★ 5 / 10
Hunky but largely charm-free Jeremy Sumpter is the
CinemaSerf
Hunky but largely charm-free Jeremy Sumpter is the wayward "Kyle" - son of a slightly dodgy gazilionnaire "Hartmann" (Sebastian Koch) - who is sent to a remote…
Hunky but largely charm-free Jeremy Sumpter is the wayward "Kyle" - son of a slightly dodgy gazilionnaire "Hartmann" (Sebastian Koch) - who is sent to a remote Scottish island camp for the disparate offspring of equally rich people who have lost control of their children. Ed Westwick ("Speck") and three of his pals hit on a plan to attack this barely guarded outpost and hold the weans for ransom - $1 billion no less. Their plan works fine except for the fact that "Kyle" manages to escape and finding an inner strength previously unknown to him, realises that he can rescue his buddies and they can all work together in the ultimate team-bonding exercise to take down the baddies... No, it's not very good. A sort of "Hunger Games" meets the "Adventure Game" with plenty of eye candy, but precious little else by way of suspense or decent writing/acting/directing to help it along for what seemed like quite a long 100 minutes of low budget cinematography. It's fine to watch on telly whilst your are ironing, or doing something equally mundane - but that's about it.
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★ 8 / 10
[7.5] Lacks plot tightness and professional speed
cjonesas
Although, I enjoyed Take Down for what it presents itself, without having too much expectation, I do believe that when you invest a budget of over 11 million…
Although, I enjoyed Take Down for what it presents itself, without having too much expectation, I do believe that when you invest a budget of over 11 million USD in a movie, it needs to have a smooth script and storyline first, then you have the means to put the acting on top of that.
The matter and fact are not new to me and failure to do so, I saw in countless movies and series, leading to minor to big disasters in respect to the budget invested and the efforts put in.
As some reviewers correctly hinted, the movie feels like 2 to 3 movie parts put together.
First, you have the young actors and their issues - acceptable development for some, but no background and their overall stories feel disjointed. Aside from some, the others didn't feel spoiled (a mistake). Also, the drama factor between all of them was low. Should have shown that in more problematic ways. No depth shown.
Second, you have the parents or basically some of them. Again, aside from basically two (not enough), viewers don't get to know about the others. They are shown together, that's it, they say that a specific place has no electricity but then miraculously stuff happen to be there, working and set up. No depth shown in that section too.
Third, You have the hostage takers. Seriously!, their number IMO wasn't enough in the first place, let alone with some (unbelievable) casualties. Basically what happened down there, most of that was because of their low numbers. Their subsequent plans and going after the kids as they did in the movie, wasn't well thought out too leading to how it all ended. Let alone their carelessness.
So, why I rated it the way I did?
That's because of its cinematography, scenery, some good acting and entertainment value.
What the writers and producers failed to understand is what you want to do with your movie in the first place, if there is the slightest feel that the story, expenditures and budget do not match, there are potentially big plot holes and the whole picture will probably be seen as weak, disjointed or lacking solid logic throughout, then it's a mistake to even begin with. Not film it and then hope for the best.
Look what happened, the movie was not bad and above average, but because of the mentioned and some other things that more experienced persons will see, it failed miserably at the theaters and almost no one felt like promoting it.
Cutting my tales short, I just would like to recommend this movie to pass a nice time, watch some beautiful scenery and have the story unfold before your eyes, without having too much expectation, while at the same enjoying some good and fierce acting, among others, Phoebe Tonkin's one.
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Thanks FREEMAN & YTS!!